1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a feeding and picking device for an agricultural crop having a feeding element that has a vertical axis of rotation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A corn picker disclosed in German Patent No. 30 29 424 A comprises a plurality of gathering snouts that define a plurality of feed channels. Each of the feed channels is provided with longitudinally extending gathering chains that overlie snapping bars defining a snapping gap. Two snapping rolls underlie the snapping bars. The plant stalks are grasped and drawn in by horizontal counterrotating snapping rolls. The snapping gap snaps ears of corn from the stalks. The gathering chains then transport the ears of corn to a screw conveyer. The plant stalks, on the other hand, are completely drawn in by the snapping rolls and deposited on the ground of the field. In many corn pickers, the plant stalks are chopped into pieces by a knife that rotates underneath the snapping rolls. The disadvantage of these prior-art corn pickers is that they are able to grasp only plants that grow in the immediate proximity of the feed channel. As a result, the transverse distance between the feed channels has to correspond relatively accurately to the spacing between the rows of plants, and the harvester has to be precisely guided.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,405 discloses a well-known corn picker head device which is fitted with a cutting unit. The corn picker head device comprises reciprocating knives and a conveyer screw downstream of the cutting unit. The conveyer screw interacts with a floor consisting of pairs of counterrotating rollers, between which openings are provided which run at right angles to the direction of travel. A conveyer screw feeds the ears of corn to a combine harvester, and the stalks of the corn plants are drawn in by the rotating rollers, guided through the openings, and deposited on the ground of the field. In practice, however, this device proved to be a failure.
German Patent No. 197 34 747 A discloses a corn picker for attachment to a self-propelling harvesting machine which is able to mow stalks in fields not planted in rows and to pick the ears of corn from the plants to process them separately from the remainder of the plants. To be able to grasp and mow the plants in fields not planted in rows, the device comprises a mowing unit with a rotating drum, on the peripheral edges of which recesses are provided, and a knife that rotates underneath this drum, such as known from corn picker heads. The plants are subsequently fed to conventional picker units that are mounted downstream of the mowing unit, such picker units are disclosed in German Patent No. 30 29 424 A. Although this device is able to work in fields not planted in rows, it has the disadvantage that it requires complex technical equipment and has a considerable overall length.